Ted Cruz: Not in US National Interest to Attack Syria

Secretary of State John Kerry was right to call the Syrian government's chemical weapons attack on civilians a "moral obscenity," but the United States shouldn't attack Syria because it has no national interest calling for it to do so, says Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Most Republicans and Democrats alike have said President Barack Obama must act after the attack last week that left possibly 355 men, women and children dead and thousands wounded. The United States would appear weak after Obama in 2012 said such an attack would cross a "red line" demanding U.S. action, say supporters of action.

"The United States armed forces doesn't exist to be a policeman of the world," Cruz told Fox News Channel on Monday, "and I certainly hope the reaction isn't simply lobbing some cruise missiles in to disagree with (President Bashar) Assad's murderous actions."

Cruz says he fears the Obama administration wants to arm rebels without differentiating which ones are allied with al-Qaida. The United States should be more concerned with stopping chemical weapons from getting into hands of Hezbollah and al-Qaida, he said.

"If Assad is toppled and replaced by a radical Islamist regime, what would be truly dangerous for the United States, for our allies like Israel and Jordan, is for a radical Islamic government to seize control of those chemical weapons and to deploy them against us or our allies," Cruz said.